Hollywood Studios Are Trying To Call Their Decision To Cheat Writers an ‘Act of God’

Variety published a report over the weekend that struck a similar chord to that recent Deadline exclusive in which anonymous Hollywood executives were quoted describing their villainous plans to wait out the WGA strike until writers were bankrupt and desperate.

In Friday’s Variety piece, anonymous “sources with knowledge” were once again quoted about the secret goings-on at Hollywood studios, primarily in relation to WGA writers, currently in their fourteenth week of striking.

These “insiders” claim that studios are going to start terminating their overall deals (multi-year deals that studios make with writers so that they create new projects exclusively with them, or at least get “first dibs,” for a set period of time) with writers as early as today (August 1) by invoking their force majeure clauses—meaning these strikes are an “act of God” that should allow studios to get out of their deals. The piece says:

”The writers strike is also rapidly approaching the 90-day mark when, historically, dealmakers have the option to kill agreements in the face of an “act of God,” the common show business interpretation for how the phrase “force majeure” applies to these type of labor shutdowns.”

The thing is, force majeure isn’t a “Hollywood thing.” It’s an actual, legal thing.

It’s not for Hollywood studios to have their own “interpretation” of those clauses in their existing contracts with their workers. Force majeure refers to unforeseeable circumstances that prevent someone from fulfilling a contract. Usually, those circumstances are, by definition, out of any human being’s control, like the weather, or a fire not caused by arson. Force majeure is designed to protect the person who signed the contract from having to fulfill that contract if something happens to make it difficult not only through no fault of their own, but through no fault of any human being’s own. That’s why the shorthand is “an act of God.” Because no person could’ve done it.

The current WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes aren’t fire, flood, or a damn tornado. The strikes and subsequent production shutdown weren’t brought about by “God,” but by very human choices made by studios. With studios choosing not to negotiate in good faith and make an attempt to give their workers what they need to survive and work well, was the resulting response from writers and actors really “unforeseeable”?

Hell, there’s still debate in the legal realm as to whether or not the COVID-19 pandemic can be considered an “act of God,” considering that the spread of disease, and the government/private sector response to it are “manmade.” And that’s a global pandemic. Ain’t no way a legal strike would be considered an “act of God.”

I’m sure the companies that comprise the AMPTP like to think of themselves as gods, but they’re not.

The fact that Variety even reported this piece is ridiculous. It reads like a scare tactic, just like that Deadline piece. Like something a corporate site with an interest in making writers and actors look bad would post hoping to make striking writers second-guess what they’re doing. It’s such an obvious ploy, it’s laughable.

The piece mentions that showrunners with huge deals (the Ryan Murphys and Shonda Rhimeses) have terms in their contracts that prevent force majeure from applying to them as if it’s a “gotcha,” calling it ironic in a fight that’s been highlighting that the industry as it works now is eliminating middle-class writers.

However, the fact that “mega-deals” like this even exist with only a handful of people proves that studios aren’t interested in an equitable system. They’ll pay a select few with big names a huge amount of money, so that they don’t have to pay most writers much at all.

Bottom line? Even if some studios are actually considering terminating deals with writers starting today: there are a few important caveats. For one, this should be easily fought in court, and I’d hope that the more well-paid writers would help those writers paid less with their legal fees, or draw from the fundraising pools being amassed.

This plan would also make studios look worse in the court of public opinion than they already do, and one would hope the AMPTP might be concerned with that.

Moreover, it would absolutely affect the studios’ relationships with those same writers (and actors!) once both strikes eventually end. Do they really think they can refuse to honor deals with writers because of a legal strike, and then go back to being brochachos with everyone when it’s all over?

Sacrificing the long-term for short-term gains isn’t a good look, AMPTP. It makes you look evil and incompetent. And not just a little bit pathetic.

(featured image: David McNew/Getty Images)